Mistermuttley

Cheers for that, much appreciated. I do need to change my stock mix as essentially its family style hatchbacks and there are so many of them out there of each model that people are spoilt for choice and loads just look at the bottom line. Will try and mix up my next few purchases, seems its definitely worth a gamble. Took a punt on an ugly duckling Peugeot 1007 ,bought for £700 very low miles ,owes me 750 and someone is coming to view it,its up at 1299 so i expect a decent profit from that so i can see how non mainstream stuff can sell. The fiat 500 at 3400 with 400 seems daft when you compare cheap cars like that. Just taken out your quote as boring dave said to get rid of it, dont want you to lose your niche

is that from auction or do you buy them from private sellers like ebay etc? even the tat at auction fetches great prices

Cheers,will try it

I did think that the car should have been given to me as the hammer went down and yes i probably was a bit soft. The lady though was apologetic and i think she didnt like having to tell me the car was not mine.I'll ask for a favour from them in future then. Would have been a bit firmer if not for the fact that even though its us that pay their bills,its dead easy for them to just cancel your account

Wow, is it something really rare?

Looking at a recent thread it asked how long people had been trading before they knew what they were doing. Most reckoned about 3 years, I'm into this just about a year and a half now and i know there is lots i have learned but yes still a LOT more to learn. This forum is great for help and advice.thanks all

Lots of replies and all good advice. Will look into trying to increase my margins. Right or wrong i do try and compete with the best prices on Autotrader and i do realise £400 isnt that much from a £4000+ car. What would most expect as profit from a £4000 car? Have bought a few from ebay, might try and increase my purchases from there,less buyers fees!

So, bid on a car at Manheim B'ham today. Nice Fiat 500 Lounge 2013 low miles and grade 2 for £3400. Marked sold on Simulcast as i was the highest bidder.Thought i might make £400-£500 from it as the cheapest on Autoraper is £4200. get a call shortly after i bought it,Manheim lady said a girl on the rostrum had pressed sold instead of provisional, and there was an issue with wrong cap figures and they were waiting to speak to Listers after the auction. Later a manager calls.Said figure does need to be 3950. Asked the lady if i overbid on a car would i be expected to honour it,she said yes. She said the cap figures were incorrect and apologised but still said i could have it for 3950 or it would go back through the block. With fees it just wasnt realistic to buy it at 3950 so i declined.The manager said she appreciated where u are coming from,mentioning something about no invoice being raised ,like thats a reason to deny a sale when your bid has been accepted. I was offered free online bidding fees next time i get anything,but really Manheim should have allowed me to buy the car at £3400 if they have sold it at that. One rule for one eh....... Might look into an account at BCA Wolverhampton after this and as Manheim B'ham is absolutely chock full of traders and prices are sky high,anyone know if BCA Wolv's is any good?

Sell most with just one key if thats all that came with it. Got a key cut for a suzuki alto for just £60 from timpsons. Was non-remote though.

Snap!

In a way thats good for us as i think people dont realise how cheap it is to service a car and change the brakes etc if you do it yourself. A tired older car with a bit of elbow grease and a few new parts can seem like a good bet for someone on a lower budget. Most people just seem scared to death of buying a moneypit so if they see parts have been replaced it makes the car a safer purchase.

If they are getting creamed off, who is getting them? I have noticed at Manheim recently the quality overall of all the cars has tailed off, lots ofgrade 3's and 4's are definitely a grade lower with all the work needed on them.

Do you get these by bidding on an auction style sale or are these a fixed price? If fixed do u email them and chip them? Asking as im currently getting the odd one off ebay but via auction, some good some not so good! People seem to forget certain issues with their cars and dont mention on the ads one key is needed for ignition and one for door locks ,or the rad fan fouls the rad so they just disconnected the fan! You truly meet all people on Ebay.

Whats the cost for the this nick?

Charlie , i just have the autotrader app on my phone, it takes about 1 minute to narrow down your comparable car. If you get cap or something else let me know what u think about it

I dont use cap or glasses, for me the best way to price a car is to find the same model,same spec and mileage on autotrader and ebay. I'll then value it according to what other tradrs are actually pricing them for. I find cap retail figures manheim put out are generally above what traders are actually selling the cars for.

I only buy from manheim b'ham as im lazy and dont like to travel far. Bid on a mazda 2 but wanted another car over it, a lady there said i can just retract my bid if the vendor hasnt made a decision on the car. So did that and bought something else. Dont know if this is the same everywhere else.

Cheers for that, will take a look

I got it for £820 and I'll probably give it an mot as its got just under 4 months on it. cheapest around seems to be about £1500 so there should be some money in it. I think i should just stick to corsa's n fiat 500's as they seem easiest to shift in the small car category. Funny thing is drove it back home about 90 miles last night and it was really good on the petrol and quite refined at speed, still wouldn't want one for myself though.

I'll try the battery,that would be an easier fix. Its my first vw and i normally steer clear due to their issues and fussy customers, but i just thought I'd try one to see if I had a stampede at the door as its a vw! I looked on amazon Justin for a central locking kit and i thought i needed one with the electrical actuators, can you put a link up for one which works pneumatically? Cheers

Thats not a bad idea, would save changing the ecu and ignition barrel and potentially the clocks. Only got that to do then as well as the power steering pump which also needs changing, think that might be easier than sorting the locks though if I changed them all

Hi all, just bought another nugget of gold in the shape of a vw fox via Ebay.Collected it yesterday with no mention of the issue and on viewing it, was told the drivers side door lock has been changed so now i have 2 sets of keys and each set has an ignition key and a separate drivers door key. Bit miffed about this as i assume it will be harder to sell now, but did chip £50 off the price as a result. I just wondered if if its better to leave as is and advertise a bit cheaper or change the lock and ignition set. Seen lock sets and matching ecu's on ebay but they also have the clocks forsale with them. Can i just change the locks igition and ecu or do the clocks also need changing? Any help appreciated.

I trade as a second job and only sell 2 or 3 a month. As my margin is around £400 per car i do most of the work on the car myself. Will do some small paint/touch ups myself but leave bigger jobs to my paint guy. Nearly everything mechanical/electrical though i will do myself as if I pay someone else i might make 50p per car! Jobs i do are exhaust /brake changes. oil & filter changes. suspension ball joints/shocks. timing belts/chains. I have done a corsa head gasket and timing chain ,but would not like to do that again! Youtube or google for how to's from various car clubs shows you nearly everything you need to know. I have a few Haynes manuals for the cars I regularly do, and it pays to stick mostly to a few car types as its a lot easier maintenance wise as doing something a second/third time is twice as fast as the first time. As for saving between a garage and doing it myself i can get a belt and tensioner for a fiat 500 for £30 or pay someone £300 to do it, its around a 3 hour job after the third time so its relatively quick and easy IF you have all the tools neccesary!

Most of the time my bids are pretty much bang on or over the cap clean valuation, as thats what everybody else pays or is prepared to pay. Today though i bid on an i20 with my max in my head of £2600, the cap clean was £2625 and i was bidding online against hall bidders..........got to £2200 expecting it to keep creeping up but got it at that. Thought maybe there is something people in the Hall know that i dont, but having driven it home its really nice and a genuine grade 2. Its nice to get a good deal for once!

good point, time they were got shot of on facebook. Or time facebook made them declare if the cars a write off